c-152 rudder???

living in houston, i just think the
sun beating down on me thru that bubble would be too much.

Your call, of course, but before you make the decision, you might drive
on over to Pearland Regional (formerly Clover) and fly one of Mike
King's when summer comes around. I've never found it to be a problem
because on the ground it's easy to keep the doors open, and once
airborne the ventilation is excellent.

I've seen Tommy's with low time engines and airframes and good IFR
panels going for $20K.

Michael

i'll check it out. do apppreciate the input.

dan

The vertical fin on a C-150 is held on to the fuselage with a welded
steel bracket riveted into the aluminum structure. The welds are in
the corners where the stress is highest. The steel undergoes galvanic
corrosion when it is close to aluminum. These aircraft are being used
well beyond their original intended lifetime and this steel fitting was
cracked in the welds on the two 150s I'm familiar with. I thought it
was a recent AD or at least a recent service letter. They were
certainly not airworthy.

This should be checked at annual on any 150 since it is an area of
known service difficulty.

The 172s don't have this problem with the bracket as it is an aluminum
forging - not prone to corrosion.

It would be one thing to lose a rudder, but losing both the rudder and
vertical fin would be pretty exciting. It would be even worse if the
rudder cables kept the separated surfaces attached to the rest of the
airplane.

Which is what would happen. Any control surface falling off is a
death sentence.
Besides, the rudder is part of the vertical surface contributing to
lateral stability. The airplane would be inclined to fly sideways
without the rudder. Some aircraft, like my Jodel and many of the Zenair
airplanes, have no fixed vertical surface and rely almost entirely on
the rudder for stability.

Dan

Any control surface falling off is a death sentence.

I know a pilot who lost a control surface in a 150 Aerobat who will be
very surprised to hear it. Rumors of his death are highly exaggerated.
Michael

Any control surface falling off is a death sentence.

Losing a rudder would be no big deal. Losing one aileron doesn't render
the aircraft unflyable, lose both and you'd have to drive with the
rudder. Losing one or both flaps isn't a big deal.

Losing a rudder would be no big deal. Losing one aileron doesn't render
the aircraft unflyable, lose both and you'd have to drive with the
rudder. Losing one or both flaps isn't a big deal.
BRBR


I once watched a pipe line patrol hop in a 152, start it up and take off -
missing an aileron. So much for a careful pre-flight. Came around the pattern,
taxied back, shut her down and walked away.


--
Dr. Nuketopia
Sorry, no e-Mail.
Spam forgeries have resulted in thousands of faked bounces to my address.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Which is what would happen. Any control surface falling off is a
death sentence.

Not.


Besides, the rudder is part of the vertical surface contributing to
lateral stability. The airplane would be inclined to fly sideways
without the rudder. Some aircraft, like my Jodel and many of the Zenair
airplanes, have no fixed vertical surface and rely almost entirely on
the rudder for stability.

Dan

Losing the rudder cleanly would probably be survivable as students have
been ignoring it for years. However, I contend that losing both the
rudder and the vertical fin would almost certainly cause a crash. Any
use of the ailerons in that circumstance would create a slight amount
of adverse yaw moment that would have almost no reaction surface. The
fuselage rear cone (especially on a later small tailcone diameter 150s)
would not be very effective restoring moment just at the time when you
would want to use a lot of the ailerons to get a semblance of steering.


There is redundancy in the aileron system. There is no redundancy in
the rudder/fin system.

I do recall a picture in Aviation Week many years ago though that
showed a B-52 with the whole vertical fin and rudder gone from a
thunderstorm. Otherwise it would be the Sioux City DC-10 accident all
over again but without the possibilities of differential engine thrust.
No thanks.

The Cessna's aileron control system uses bellcranks in
the wings, with pushrods from the bellcranks to the aileron, and cables
from the bellcranks to the control wheels. A departed aileron would
hopefully take the rod off and leave the airplane, and the bellcranks
should continue to operate. If the rod didn't fail, or iff the
bellcrank was damaged, the whole system would be fouled up. An airplane
such as a Cub, or my Jodel, that has cables directly to the ailerons,
would have no aileron control at all if one aileron failed. All the
cable tensions are gone. You might have control in one direction, and
not the other.

Dan